


A Woman, a Virus, and a Kidnapping: The Mercenaries Experience an Outbreak

by starcrossedstarwars



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Multi, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:27:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24653833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starcrossedstarwars/pseuds/starcrossedstarwars
Summary: Mika is a scientist who has just been hired by B.L.U. to create a biological weapon against R.E.D. She succeeds, and the Red mercenaries consequently experience an outbreak of a mysterious virus that the Medic decides to investigate, dragging Mika further into the conflict between the Red and Blue mercenaries and presenting her with an unlikely love interest.My first fanfiction, written in light of our current public health situation.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	A Woman, a Virus, and a Kidnapping: The Mercenaries Experience an Outbreak

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short story I decided to write :) I tried my best to move swiftly through the exposition and lead-up to some tense moments. I apologize in advance for my poor skills in accent-writing. Let me know if you want a part 2! Reviews much appreciated.

By the time she was 22, Mika had two PhD's - one in biomedical engineering and another in chemistry. She knew she was brilliant. Career-wise, she didn’t want to become your typical doctor, or professor, even a researcher. She wanted to become a part of something new, something extraordinary, something unheard of. So, when she heard the corporation Builder’s League United was in the search for methods of biological warfare in their rivalry against the Reliable Excavation and Demolition company, Mika decided to apply.

B.L.U hired her immediately and put her right to work. The Director welcomed her on her first day with a brisk handshake and voice quivering with desperation. “You don’t know how grateful we are…R.E.D…they just…they’ve destroyed so many of our forces…they are relentless….w-we are desperate for answers…we need a new development in the way we p-protect our company.” He finally calmed himself and spoke clearly; Mika listened amusedly. “We hired you because we want to experiment with biological warfare. I don’t know anything about biology, just do what you can - make a virus-filled bomb, I don’t know, we just need to win this war.”

“Yes, sir,” Mika replied, already fantasizing about the amazing, and terrifying, scientific endeavor on which she was about to embark.

The next week brought the most fun Mika had had since she interned with her engineering professor on his nanotechnology research. She didn’t sleep for three days, staying up through the night pushing the limits of biology, chemistry, and ethics, for that matter. Injecting the bone marrow of mice with Uranium, mutating E.Coli into a living photosynthetic organism, and crafting minuscule deadly robotic mosquitoes were all projects she undertook and completed with success. Her hair became wild, her eyes bloodshot, but she felt that her inventions, while brilliant, weren’t fit to take down the infamous R.E.D. mercenaries. She needed a biological weapon that could manifest itself in closed-quartered combat, something that could be used as a weapon in battle. Then it hit her - a disease that targeted the mercenaries of R.E.D. but not B.L.U. She would create a virus or bacteria with a genetic code only she could decipher, then develop a treatment administered to B.L.U. mercenaries, while they spread it to the R.E.D. soldiers in combat. It was foolproof.

…

Soldier showed up at Medic’s lab one night with his helmet in his hands, which was strange, not only because he felt that being treated by a German doctor was un-American and intolerable, but because the last battle he had fought was at least a few days ago. “Err…um…doc? I got this headache, see? And it hasn’t gone away and uh…I’m worried that my old man’s brain cancer might’ve finally caught up to me…and uh…”

“Vell, my friend, ze tumor of ze brain does not cause headaches so much as it causes other symptoms, such as nausea, mood svings, the urge to eat brains!!! Ahahahah!” Medic laughed maniacally, trying to ease the unusual anxiety of the otherwise fearless Soldier. He glanced at Soldier and saw that his joke was of no prevail. Unsettled at this change in character, Medic furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin. “Vell, come on in, zen. Take a seat, ya?” He performed multiple brain scans, all which came back negative for any abnormality. “It appears zere is nothing vrong vis your brain, _mein Kamerad_. Maybe refrain from the teleporter for a few days, ya?”

“Alright, thanks doc!” Soldier replied, jumping off the table, his spirits lifted. “Alrighty zen, dear boy, _guten nacht_!” Medic said, though he was unsatisfied with his inability to diagnose the Soldier.

The next morning, all of R.E.D. base was startled awake by Scout’s shrill scream. Everyone rushed up to his bunker where his roommate, Heavy, lay lifeless in bed.

“What…I just…he was fine last night!” Scout stammered. “He was telling me all about Russian chicks just last night…wha…I don’t know…ah, my head hurts so bad, I can’t think!” Immediately Medic realized Soldier’s appearance at his door was not a coincidence.

“Everyone, get back to your bunkers!” he ordered. “It appears we have been plagued by a virus of some sort.” Everyone stood dumbfounded, startled at the sudden loss of their dear friend. “ _Raus_! I know you are sad, but we will grieve later unless more of you vant to die! _Raus_! Scout, you come vith me, I need to ask you some questions.”

Medic put on a mask and sat a hyperventilating Scout down in his lab.

“Oh my god, did you SEE him? The dude was lifeless! Oh my god oh my god, poor Heavy, what if I’m next!? Oh my god my head, jeezus CHRIST DUDE!”

“Scout! Tell me! When you fought ze blue mercenaries last veek, did any of them seem sick? Were they all there? Were any of them dead? Answer me, _Junge_!”

“Uhh…ah…umm…I may have been distracted by a…um…fair maiden on the front lines, Doc.”

“Vat? Why vas frauline Pauling in ze battle?” Medic demanded.

“She wasn’t, Doc, it was some other chick, kinda dressed like you-AGH! MY HEAD!”

“Focus, _mein Junge_! Who vas this maiden?”

“Well, I’ve never seen her ‘fore, Doc! She was young and sweet-lookin’, but also she was…I think she was givin’ orders to the blue mercs? Was kinda surprised to see a woman doin’ that, but hey, times a changin’, right?”

Medic was lost in thought. “Hmm… yes, yes. And you’ve never seen zis woman before, ya?”

“Nope. I was gonna try and make a move on her, but she started givin’ like, shots to the blue mercs, which weirded me out.”

“Shots, my boy?”

“Ye, like, you know, needles n’ stuff. Weird stuff. Smart, medical stuff. I uh…I think I’m gonna pass out now.” And Scout toppled onto the floor. Medic lifted him onto a cot. He paced across the examination room, fiddling with his gloves, wondering if this new woman was the source of the mysterious sickness.

The next morning Medic called Sniper and Spy into his office.

“Ze Scout is in a coma. Ze Russian is dead. Soldier is sick. I think our mercenaries have contracted a disease from Blutarch’s men.” He paced wildly as he spoke, wiping his glasses despite their glistening shine. Spy leaned against the wall, the flame of his cigarette lighter illuminating his concealed face.

“It is my understanding that Builder’s League United has hired a new doctor. A young woman just out of the university. The blue mercenaries seem healthy to me, maybe we can ask her for advice.”

“Advice, _mein Komerad_? ADVICE? I have ze greatest medical mind vest of Teufort, I have no reason other than to believe that she VANTS our men dead.” The smoke from Spy’s cigarette swirled upward, carrying the crisp scent of burnt tobacco.

“I do not mean to insult you, Doctor. I am simply concerned for the health of our men.”

Sniper crossed his arms and spoke up. “Wha’a you mean, ‘she wants our men dead,’ Doc? They wouldn’t use a medic as a weapon, would they?”

“As a veapon, no.” Medic chimed in, gazing out of the window. “I am suggesting that there is a, how do you say, connection between our new health concerns and zis frauline. Zey don’t just hire female medics.”

Spy sighed and took a drag from his cigarette. “Doctor, I think you are letting this illness get to your head. An enigma, yes, but a threat nonetheless. Maybe you need to set aside your pride and refrain from suggesting crazy conspiracy theories.”

Medic hunched over his desk and shook his head, unable to respond. The three of them sat in silence for a moment, the sound of the gentle puff of the cigarette rustling the atmosphere.

Medic stood upright and faced Spy and Sniper. “Bring her here.” he ordered.

“You want us to kidnap a woman.” Spy retorted.

 _“Ruhig!_ I have every reason to believe that she is a threat to our mercenaries; either zat or she has the treatment to the disease. Go to the B.L.U. headquarters and bring her here."

"'Oy Doc, I know you don't have experience with fighting and dealing with enemies like we do, but we can't just go into an enemy base and steal their medic. That's not how that works." Sniper commented.

"Break in at night. Trankvilize her. Do what mercenaries do. I don't care. Just bring her to me."

Spy started to get irritated. "I'm beginning to feel as if this is more of a personal competition you are having with this woman more than it is about the safety of our friends." 

Medic turned away and administered an IV fluid to an unconscious Scout. "Maybe it is, _mein Kamerad_. Maybe it is my obsession with zat related to ze human body. Maybe it is my desire to be ze most brilliant scientist in the face of zis war. Maybe it is my concern for the health of our men. But something about zis frauline seems suspicious; the once distant threats of a biological var seem to be nearing. It vill be getting late soon. If you are to bring zis voman to me you will do it tonight. I vill vait. Now let me tend to our soldiers before zey die of this disease." 

And with that, Medic tended to Scout, and Spy and Sniper departed toward their bunkers. 

...

She called it TF-19. A double-stranded RNA plasmid she had developed in a single polymerase chain reaction. She coded it so that after she had administered an anti-viral to the mercs she had infected, they could still infect others. It would spread through droplets in the air, riding along the particles of saliva and phlegm of the B.L.U. mercenaries over to the enemy, an invisible killer. One detail she hadn't ironed out completely was the method in which the virus attacked its host. The death rate wasn't certain; sometimes her new disease wouldn't present any symptoms at all, maybe just a nagging headache. But she was nevertheless proud of her work, especially given the short amount of time in which she was able to invent it.

Mika had just finished celebrating her new creation with the mercenaries of Buildings Leagues United when the Director stopped her outside of the mess hall. 

"I knew I would not be disappointed in you, doctor." He praised. "Because of you and your brilliant mind, we might actually have a chance at winning this war. A virus that only infects the enemy - goddamn thats pretty brilliant if you ask me."

Mika chuckled. "Just doing my job sir!" she responded with a smile.

The Director's expression hardened. "Well, on that note...I wanted to warn you that you are fully invested in our affairs. I know you have very little experience in the professional world, and thats why we hired you. This isn't just a job, Doctor, you're fighting a war for us now." He pulled out a revolver. "Thats why I want you to have this." 

"Sir..." Mika started.

The Director placed the gun in her hand. "Learn how to use it. Learn how to defend yourself. The leaders of the R.E.D. and B.L.U. companies are corporate nutjobs, their mercenaries, even more so. They take their rivalry way too seriously and this war has gone on for far too long. It won't be long before you are a wanted war criminal. All I'm asking is that you acknowledge the risks you are taking in this fight and learn to protect yourself."

Mika didn't know what to say. She was afraid, though she hated to admit it, and angry; she felt tricked, like her scientific genius was only important in the context of some corporate dispute. She pursed her lips, gave the Director a cold nod, and tucked the revolver into the pocket of her jumpsuit.

Silently, Mika went back to her lab and started to clean up for the day, practicing her routine biohazardous waste disposal protocol. The Director's words turned in her head as she examined the revolver he had given her. She tucked the gun away and walked outside into the brisk night air, carrying the waste from her lab to the dumpster out back, leaving the door open on her way out. She leaned against the wall next to the dumpster and gazed at the stars, pondering her decision to join the B.L.U. business and wondering if it was too late to back out of their operation.

A rustle in the bushes reminded her of what the Director said about being a wanted war criminal, and she figured it would be best to head back inside and get some sleep before work in the morning. Mika strutted over to the door. It was locked. A wave of panic rushed through her as she tried in vain to turn the door handle. She then felt a presence behind her, one that made the hairs on the back of her neck stick up. She whipped out her revolver and spun around to face a man who was holding a knife to her neck.

"Easy there, miss." He breathed in a low, Australian accent. "Put the gun down, please." The icy metal of the knife stung Mika's neck as she grasped the revolver, her knuckles turning white. She was stunned; her eyes were wild with fear. The man seemed so calm, like he was accustomed to threatening people; it scared her. Their eyes refused to break contact as he spoke again, this time more firmly: "M'am, I need you to relax. Lower your gun and I'll lower the knife." Mika just realized that she had been holding her breath and started to feel light-headed. She had no idea why she was listening to this man, but she slowly lowered her gun. But the man didn't lower the knife, and suddenly her gun was pulled from her hand, leaving her unarmed. Another man appeared out of thin air next to the Australian, holding her revolver. He wore a red mask that resembled that of the spy on Blutarch's forces. Immediately she recognized these two men to be mercenaries from the Reliable Excavation Demolition. 

"Sorry to pop in unannounced, _Mademoiselle,_ " The Spy spoke, "but we have had an issue with a particular...illness...that is plaguing our men, and it has come to our attention that you are involved."

Mika couldn't believe that they had already figured her out. Completely dumbfounded, she had no idea of what to say other than "I have no idea what you're talking about." 

"No? Then we are not speaking to the new medical researcher of Builder's League United?" he asked, raising an eye brow, almost mockingly apologetic.

"Uh-I mean...I uh..." Mika stammered.

"Ah! So we do have the right woman. _Magnifique!_ We would be much obliged if you joined us back in the Reliable Excavation Demolition. Our doctor is incredibly eager to meet you." The Spy motioned for the Sniper to put the knife away, and Mika was finally able to relax and catch her breath. 

"Gentlemen, I uh...I really have a lot of work to finish." she lied. "I should get back inside and...finish...that work that I need to... finish." 

The Spy looked intrigued. "At ten o'clock in the evening? That doesn't seem likely." Mika had nothing else to say and turned briskly toward the door. "Well," he mused. "Unfortunately our circumstances are rather dire, and we won't accept a refusal to our invitation. Sniper?"

"Sorry, Miss." Mika heard behind her as she felt a twinge in her neck. The atmosphere began to melt around her as her head became heavy and her body acquired a weight that her legs refused to bear. She slipped downward and her eyelids closed; the last thing she remembered was being hurled onto a strong shoulder and dozing off into an artificially induced slumber. 


End file.
